Charlotte's Secret
by SpiderFangWolverine123
Summary: Cho and Rigsby find a blond girl by the side of the road that remembers nothing from her past. She bears the mark of Red John, seared onto the inside of her wrist. Who is she, and what is her connection to Patrick Jane? More importantly, what will he do to stop her from falling back into Red John's hands? Rated T
1. Into The Darkness

**Yay for "The Mentalist" fanfiction!**

**I really hope people out there like this story. I'm not sure where the idea came from, it just kind of appeared. *shrug* **

**I'm in the process of writing another story at the moment, so there's no telling how often I'll be able to update. Just know that it will be ASAP.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable in this story. If I did, I would be living it up in California! : )**

**Chapter One - Into the Darkness**

My head is pounding. Like a jackhammer. It won't stop.

"_Stop! NO!" _

I try to blink my eyes open, but they feel heavy. So heavy. And my head won't stop pounding.

I pry my eyes open, only to see a giant black space with small speckles of light dashing across the surface. The sky. At night.

"_Nightie-night…"_

Flickers of...something...run through my brain, but I lose them as soon as I realize they're there.

Where am I?

I feel a jolt of panic. I don't know where I am. Worse than that, I don't know _who_ I am. Or how old. Or what my favorite food is. I don't know anything.

"Hey!"

A bright light glares in my vision for a moment. I groan and try to roll away from the horrible sensation. As I do, giant spikes of pain jolt up my body, and a strangled scream bursts out of me.

Footsteps pound on the ground, rushing toward me. Two men lean over me. One of them, a smaller but fit Asian man, rolls me back onto my back. When his hand touches my shoulder, I get another odd glimpse of that...something...I felt earlier.

"_Scream, and you die…"_

Fear jolts through me. I don't like men. They hurt me. These people will hurt me.

"_I will kill your family...your mother….your father….if they aren't already dead…." _

"No!" My voice is scratchy, and hoarse, as though it has been overused far too many times. I lash out with my foot catching the other in the gut as he squats down next to me. My kick hardly lands, but it shocks him enough to knock him off balance for a moment.

I roll over, trying to crawl away, but a sharp pain in my knee stops me. I gasp, curling over.

The Asian one moves next to my head, examining my eyes. "When do the EMT's get here?" he asked tensely.

"ETA's about three minutes." The one I kicked estimated, looking a little disgruntled.

I feel shaky, and my head feels very light, and floaty.

"She's...into...shock." One of their voices echoes into my hearing. Nausea bubbles up in my stomach, lurching up my throat. I turn over to the side and vomit. The men shout.

I retch and empty my stomach, and then I feel tears sting my eyes. I still feel sick. My leg still hurts. I'm still shaking. I'm still scared. And my head. Still. Freaking. Hurts.

"_Hurts, doesn't it? Well, I will hurt you far worse if you ever try to escape."_

"Please." I rasp. "Just let me go. Let me go."

The Asian man puts a hand on my forehead. "She's burning up. Where are those EMTs?!" He exclaims in frustration.

Just then, a piercing siren shrieks through the air, coming to a halt next to us. I lift my free hand, the one not trapped under me, to cover my ear. Tears leak out of my eyes, and I want to be somewhere else. Anywhere else.

More people around me. Some grab my wrist, pulling it away from my face. Their hand touches the old burn mark on the tender inner skin, and I hiss and try to pull my hand away.

The other man sucks in a quick breath. "Cho…" he breathed.

"Yeah…" The Asian man agrees grimly. "I saw it."

A blond woman leans over my head, and shines a bright light into each of my eyes. I whimper and pull away. Patiently, the woman takes my chin in her hands and pulls my face back up. She examines the rest of my face meticulously, before standing.

"What do we got?" She says.

"One broken front rib on the right side; watch for internal bleeding." A man in a red jacket lists off. "Possible fracture of the front rib on the left side, severe bruising in multiple places, torn ACL muscle in right knee."

The woman nods. "Regular heartbeat, irregular breathing patterns." Two men set a stretcher down beside me.

My vision gets spotty for a moment, and I grab out with my hand for something to ground me. Something real. Something that makes sense. I feel the jacket arm of someone. It doesn't matter who.

"Ready, set, lift." Quickly, three of the people lift me onto the stretcher. The movement jarrs my leg and I groan.

"It's okay, sweetie." The woman murmurs gently. "You're going to be okay now."

They load me into the back of the ambulance. Tears run down the side of my face, and I can feel the wetness in my ears. The woman pulls over a plastic mask, and fixes it over my face. I cry out in panic and fear when she ties the strap around my head.

"Shh." The woman soothes. "You're okay now."

One of the men pulls out a gray blanket, and lays it over me. It's heavy. And comforting. And warm. I just realized how cold it is. How cold I am.

"I'm cold." I whisper, mostly to myself.

"We're trying to get you warm, honey." The woman says gently, running a hand through my hair. I find the action soothing, and I feel my aching muscles relax. My eyelids close, and my consciousness slowly drags away, pulling me down into the darkness.

**I'm writing this for myself, because the story wouldn't leave me alone, but some support would be nice. **

**I know that people don't usually enjoy reading fanfictions about OCs, but this character isn't actually as OC as you might imagine. : ) Read on and find out. **

**Like I said, I will update when I can. No promises. **


	2. Tea

**Chapter Two - Tea **

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

A muffled beeping intrudes on my sleep. I'm tired. I just want to sleep.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

Someone, turn it off. Please. I would, but I feel like my arms and legs are coated in lead. I can't even tell if I'm breathing.

_Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. _

That sound is deeper, longer. Is that _me_ breathing? I had no idea I was so obnoxious.

_Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. _

Great, this whole room is just chock full of annoying sounds, isn't it?

Straining, I force my eyes open, only to be bombarded by harsh white lights. I grunt, and squint slightly. I turn my head to the side, and see a bag of...water?...dripping into a tube below it. I follow the tube with my eyes and see it enter my hand. My eyes widen, and I have to close my eyes to cancel out the nauseating sight.

There's another mask over my face, which I guess is what's making the _whoosh_ sounds.

"Hey," A soft voice beside me says. I open my eyes and turn my face to the other side. A woman with long black hair sits in the chair beside me. Her face is tilted, and looks sympathetic.

"Your doctor told me you'd be waking up soon." She said quietly.

I hesitate, blinking uncertainly. "Am...am I okay?" I ask, my voice somewhat muffled by the mask.

The woman cracks a smile. "I was just about to ask you that. How do you feel?"

I think, mentally assessing my multiple injuries. "Like I was run over by a truck." I decide, and the woman chuckles again. Then her expression sombers.

"Do you remember what happened to you?" She asks.

I swallow. "Do I get three guesses?" I wisecrack, trying to relieve the tension.

Her mouth turns up in a smile. There is a long silence. "What's your name?"

I gaze up at the ceiling, rummaging through my brain, scrambling to come up with an answer, but I fall short.

"I give up. Can I get a hint?" I joke.

The lady's smile fades, and she looks at me in genuine concern. "Can you remember anything?" She asks gently.

I shake my head and turn back up to the ceiling. "Nope. Blank as a slate." With a deep breath, I shove down the tears I feel coming, and turn back to her. "You don't think I was, like, a drug addict or something, right?"

The woman looks down at the ground. "We didn't find any drugs in your system. Only a weak sedative."

"A sedative?" I look at her in alarm. She won't meet my eyes. "Do you think I was kidnapped?"

The woman sighs. "That's one theory we're checking out."

"_Don't you check out on me! Pay attention!"_

I wince as a stab of pain rips through my skull. The woman looks at me in concern. 

"Are you okay?" She asks. "I can go get the doctor if you want some more painkillers." She stands, moving towards the door.

"No!" I protest. She halts, looking at me in surprise. My face red at my outburst, I fiddle with the edge of my sheet. "I don't like the drugs. They make me feel tired. I'd rather be awake, figuring this out."

The woman looks uncertain. She hesitates, opening her mouth to say something. Suddenly, I realize I don't know her name.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Lisbon. Teresa Lisbon." She answers. "I'm with the CBI."

"CBI?" I repeat. "That like the FBI?"

Lisbon shrugs. "Sort of. FBI is Federal Bureau of Investigation. CBI is still a Bureau of Investigation, but in-"

"California." I cut in.

Lisbon looks excited. "Did you remember something?"

I offer a half smile, and shake my head. "It's on the calendar." I admit. Lisbon glances over, and nods.

"I've got to go talk to some of my colleagues. Is there anything I can get you before I go to make you more comfortable?" Lisbon asks. I'm about to shake my head, but then I consider her offer. What would make me feel better right now?

A smile spreads across my face as I find the answer. The first true bit of information that I have discovered about myself since I woke up.

Lisbon copies my face, a smile spreading over her own face. "What?" She says cautiously.

I meet her eyes. "Do you think I could get some tea?"

line break

"I'm telling you, Jane, you should meet her." Lisbon protested. "She's a sweet girl."

"Lisbon, I would love to, but I'm sure you and your team will be more than enough to track down this girls parents." Jane said as he rummaged around his desk, looking for a specific paper.

"Jane, this girl might be connected to Red John." Lisbon spoke the words before she had a chance to consider them. Jane froze. He turned around carefully, and Lisbon recognized the carefully arranged mask he put on whenever he came across any mention of Red John or anything related to him.

"Well, then." Jane deadpanned, his eyes already looking calculating. "When can I meet this girl?"

**Let me know what you think. Like I said in the last chapter, I'm mostly doing this for me...but it's always nice to know that people like it. **


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